An outstanding American Susan Glaspell rightfully deserves to be called a master of dramaturgy, psychology, and literature essay samples. Her play “Trifles written in 1916 is considered to be a dramaturgic debut of feminine search and valuable heritage in a treasury of world literature. Therefore, being an example of women’s literature, Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” is replete with vivid characters, protagonist, antagonist, ironic title, topical theme, style, conflicts, climax, resolution, and symbols, which are depicted in the context of feminist movement at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Exploring this drama through the prism of feminist theory, it should be emphasized that the principles of this theoretic school were actively applied in the early twentieth century. Considering the fact that the women at that time were of secondary importance, namely could not vote, and had to obey the men, an idea of ??feminism was widely advocated in the literature and intended to fight against the dominance of patriarchy. Thus, literature influenced the social, economic, political, and psychological humiliation of women in the society. However, “Trifles” reflects a typical distribution of social roles, which “must be continually identified” (Bressler 183). Hence, Susan Glaspell revealed the confrontation between the leading male roles and insignificant female ones in the society.

Traditionally, the title of the work helps to expose its theme and reinforce perception of the story. Basically, the title of "Trifles" serves as an ironic mockery of men’s naivety. Although the readers are initially tuned to learn about something insignificant, the drama tells about a murder and all the details associated with it. Trying to find a key for solving Mr. Wright’s murder, three serious men do not pay attention to the obvious trifles, which essentially prove Minnie Wright’s guilt. Mr. Hale is sure that the women always “worrying about trifles” (Glaspell 776). Moreover, the women, who come to take Mrs. Wright’s things, expeditiously make all the particles of unknown puzzle and find not only the motive of the murder, but also the killer. Therefore, the title of the drama is ironic and derides the hasty conclusions and actions of patriarchy.

The topicality of the theme is undoubtedly worth mentioning. The plot is concerned with a feminine motif that explains the reasons for the murder. A social role of a woman is limited by the function of a housewife and humiliated her female identity. This fact prompted Minnie Wright to fight for her own suppressed and crushed freedom. Certainly, the men are used to be socially higher than women are; and even in Mr. Wright’s house, they are mostly located upstairs, while Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are in a traditionally female room downstairs. The men do not even pay attention to the kitchen, because they are sure, “nothing here but kitchen things” (Glaspell 776). Furthermore, Minnie’s action is not only a revenge for the dead canary but also an attempt to escape from a snare of unhappy and oppressive marriage. Unfortunately, this situation was typical for many couples at the time. Thus, the theme of opposition between the women's freedom and male dominance was relevant and vividly depicted by Susan Glaspell.

The protagonist, antagonist, and characters of “Trifles” are shown through the prism of feminine perception. They are clearly divided into two groups: county attorney, sheriff, and farmer as the male group and Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters as the female one. Significantly, this division indicates the confrontation between the attorney as the antagonist and Mrs. Hale, who is the protagonist. Naturally, Mrs. Hale undermines the antagonist’s investigation. Interestingly, the men are called by their names and surnames, but the women are only presented by their husbands’ surnames. Although this fact means the women are considered the dependent persons, they are wise, intelligent, and compassionate. Furthermore, the men believe they explore the house “piece by piece”, though they cannot see the obvious things (Glaspell 782). In such a way, male group represents the naivety of political officials and men in general. Therefore, the drama is full of eloquent images of characters, protagonist, and antagonist.

The playwright shows two major conflicts, climax, and resolution, caused by feminist mood of the early twentieth century. First, it is a conflict between free, independent, and self-sufficient personality of Minnie Foster and depressed, unfortunate, and hard-working housewife Mrs. Wright. In fact, Minnie used to be cheerful, singing, romantic, and wearing “a white dress with blue ribbons”, but the cage of marriage made her dirty and wild woman (Glaspell 783). She wants the changes for her personal salvation and escapes from dismal circumstances of unbearable life. Naturally, her husband wants to stop her aspirations for freedom that caused new conflicts in their family. Another conflict is a women’s desire to justify Mrs. Wright and help her. Even though criminal liability is assumed for complicity in the crime, the female solidarity overfilled Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters and led to their human compassion. It is interesting to note that women do not show the evidence of the murder to their husbands which indicates there is no trust between these couples. Moreover, the men’s degrading view towards women kills the sincerity of family relations. Therefore, the climax of the story is when the women learn that Mrs. Wright is the killer. Further, the resolution is justification for Minnie’s action suffering because of her marriage and concealing evidence from the detectives. Hence, major conflicts, climax, and resolution of this drama are connected with the search of feminine identity.

Admittedly, main theme is reinforced by special symbols, which are depicted in the context of strengthening the female identity. Undoubtedly, a bird in a cage symbolizes Minnie in her marriage, while a hard release of unhappy bird is a symbol of Mrs. Wright’s physical and spiritual liberty. In addition, Mr. Wright’s cold house means his cold attitude towards the wife. Everybody notices, “it’s cold in there”, that symbolizes the Wrights’ marriage was failed and unhappy (Glaspell 778). Hence, the dramatist used the symbols to represent the feminine theme more thoroughly.

Another important detail for understanding of the play is its style. It is realistic, however, that is represented through the characters’ dialogues. Admittedly, the male dialogues are full of sarcasm. Moreover, the members of patriarchal society never consider women’s feelings seriously. Although Mrs. Peters expresses her grief about the preserves, the sheriff says, “Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves” (Glaspell 776). Conversely, the women’s dialogues are characterized by hints, omissions, and intermittent sentences, pointing to the complexity of their emotions. These omissions also increase the dramatic action and give greater relief and persuasiveness to the female characters. When Mrs. Hale sees the dead bird, she says, “Oh, Mrs. Peters – it’s” and then adds, “Its neck” (Glaspell 781,782). Thus, Susan Glaspell’s realistic dialogues emphasize her writing style.

In conclusion, Glaspell’s “Trifles” greatly affected the dramaturgy. The dramatist masterfully employed the formal elements to explore the main topic of women’s oppression in dramatic work. Furthermore, Susan Glaspell used the formal elements to glorify the idea of feminine identity, which was a principal objective of feminist theory. The dramatist accentuated the typicality of the situation in that era when women lived oppressed under male domination. Therefore, “Trifles” became a great contribution to the world literature and the basis for new feminine searches in the twentieth century.